Supervalu data breach returns focus to card security

RobinSidel

DannyYadron

AnnieGasparro

A data breach that hit customers of nearly 1,000 grocery stores around the U.S. is likely to intensify a push by banks and retailers to introduce a new generation of credit cards designed to be more secure.

A string of high-profile intrusions at retailers such as Target Inc.
TGT, -0.10%
and Neiman Marcus Group and restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s China Bistro had already kick-started a drive to roll out cards embedded with microchips, which are widely used around the world.

The latest breach — involving grocery chain Supervalu Inc.
SVU, +0.33%
— shows consumers remain vulnerable to the loss of personal information while banks and retailers make the slow and costly swap of millions of computer terminals and more than one billion cards tucked into Americans’ wallets. Americans carry fewer than 50 million chip cards, according to industry estimates.

Supervalu on Friday confirmed it is investigating a data breach at roughly 200 of its grocery and liquor stores that operate under the brands Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher’s, Shop ‘n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy. The breach was reported by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

The Eden Prairie, Minn.–based company said the breach also extended to store brands it sold last year to AB Acquisition LLC, which is owned by private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Supervalu provides technology services to those stores, which include Albertsons, Acme Markets, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Star Markets brands, in roughly two dozen states.

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